Health behaviours of the working female professionals

Introduction. Health behaviour is one of a number of indicators which are recommended to monitor the health of the population. The
results of numerous studies indicate a correlation and a cause and effect dependence between the behaviour and the state of health of the
individual.

Aim of the study. The main objective of this research was the assessment of the health behaviour of working female professionals using as
an example a group of nurses and teachers.

Material and methods. There were 83 females examined, of whom 43 (52%) were nurses and 40 (48%) were teachers. All the women were
professionally employed in Elbląg. The average age of all respondents was 41.93 years (with SD = 7.35). The youngest person was 25 years
old and the oldest 57 years. The Positive Health Behaviours Scale for women developed by Hildt-Ciupińska was used in this study.

Results. The health behaviours of the women in the study were based on 5 subscales: nutrition, body care, safety, psychosocial health, and
physical activity. The highest results in both groups were obtained in the body care subscale, and the lowest results were in the physical
activity subscale.

Conclusions. The women in this study displayed similar positive health behaviours irrespective of their profession. Positive health behaviours
are most often observed in people with the longest employment history.

Nursing Topics 2011; 19 (2): 148–152